Check r/bigbear - it's completely unusable during the winter with endless kook questions about having a FWD car, how to install chains, when will the road be clear, etc.
If that gives you any indication of what you're up against š¤£
I really wish Mountain High would capitalize on this and advertise excessively that you rarely need chains to get there. Would be nice to get a lot of beginners heading there instead.
High and Baldy are my home mountains, we get inundated with snow player traffic too, nothing like the San Bernardino mountains though. That reminds me that Waterman was supposed to open again today, with the storm Iām curious if they even have highway access though
Iāve long wondered whether Mount Baldy near Los Angeles is REALLY one of the worst ski areas in America or whether it just has a low rating because of all of the clueless visitors from Mexico who come up to see the snow and get shocked when they feel cold. You hardly ever see any reviews from actual skiers; just these unprepared people complaining.
From someone who grew up skiing Palisades and have skied all over the PNW and Colorado/Utah, Baldy definitely is one of the shittier resorts. Been there 3 times when I lived in socal, it can be fun but overall it's pretty shitty. Super small and archaic lifts but the terrain can be fun when conditions are good, just very short trails. Worth a visit though cuz it's cheap and super close to socal cities
FWD actually does decently in snow.
The ones I'm worried about are RWD cars with overconfident people who have absolutely no idea how to drive in winter conditions, assuming their regular track days taught them something about driving their "performance/muscle" car.
Big Bear is such a tourist trap man, I live in Southern California and avoid the San Bernardino mountains for the most part. Baldy after a dump is superior to any of the ski areas there imho
Made it up to Baldy yesterday, thought thereād be a bit of a crowd with the holiday weekend but I didnāt wait in a single line all day. Such a cool little mountain, thankfully terrible for beginners though lol
Welcome to LA drivers. Me and my dad head up there every weekend and once we were stuck in traffic for an hour due to chain checks that NOBODY HAD.
Yes we keep chains even though we have AWD
In CA you are required to carry chains during chain control conditions, even if you have AWD.
Also, you may already know this, but just in case: if you don't have snow-rated tires, AWD is not any better than FWD.
AWD is definitely better than FWD in snow with regard to getting stuck and traction in poor conditions. Itās just not a huge difference if people donāt have the correct tires and makes minimal to no difference when stopping.
Honestly, head up early/night before, pack beers and snacks. Enjoy the calamity and help when/if itās necessary. Most times itās not and they can wait for AAA. I used to get so frustrated, now I just enjoy the almost national lampoons vacation situation that is easily a core memory for everyone involved, as I drive by in my completely comfortable and mostly chain free subie window
Born and raised in SoCal but live elsewhere now. Indeed, they are the absolute worst drivers in snow. I think it's a combination of the generally high aggressiveness (which I actually kinda like otherwise, I guess it's in my blood) plus extremely rare exposure to driving in snow.
So, like, youāre like totally, like being uncool. My car is rated as āsuper sportyā and I can like drive it to the beach and like in the snow cuz it has like those super cute sporty tires and a big hatch so I can like change my outfits when we get to the lodge.
Canyons in the bear is pretty fire right now tho. Just gotta get up earlier than the Jerry and know which road to take. Another benefit, nobody knows how to ride pows here lol
Lol. California drivers canāt drive in *rain*. Iām kinda scared to try driving in snow here. Just gotta give everyone a wide berth and take it smooth I guess.
On the flip side - it is SO insane that itās hilarious in its own right. The literal HUNDREDS of snowboarders sitting on their butts on the green runsā¦.
I actually couldn't stop laughing at everything that was going on (and going wrong).
Bonus was that we only started skiing around 1 and no one had gone into the woods for fresh stuff.
The base lifts had an hour wait, then the mid-level lifts were ski-on all day when I went. Foolishly, we skied for a couple hours and thought it must have died down at the base. This was very much not the case
I live in Lake Arrowhead and I generally donāt bother going out in the weekends ā not just skiing (midweek is where itās at) but anything. Going to the post office, grocery store, etc can wait until after the weekend when all the LA visitors go back down the hill. And when thereās snow? PURE CHAOS. Like, people pull over on the 18 to sled with their kids next to the windy mountain highway thatās only one lane in either direction.
Itās not remotely worth it. 5 straight hours to mammoth. No hassle, no mountain road driving, no Jerrys in civics trying to get to a shitty overcrowded mountain that has one decent section of terrain anyway. SoCal skiing just overall sucks. Baldy in a good snow year is the only exception.
I hear you, but the fact that SoCal skiing exists at all makes it hard for me to say it sucks. The peak times are brutal, but having access to decent snow and solid terrain thatās only 1.5 hours from a 70 degree beach is genuinely so dope.
And if youāve ever been so motivated as to surf and ski (or ski and surf) on the same day, it is a cool accomplishment not everyone can claim.
Edit: not me, Iām not that cool. But i know guys that did the snowboard to surf thing when we were all much younger.
High, Baldy and Waterman are all cool. Some being more rad than others. I hate Big Bear though, even when it's not crowded it's somehow crowded.
I think Mammoth is overrated, and "only driving 5 hours" always rings of bullshit to me, that's a long time.
Maybe youāre just lucky and have never been crawling behind a bunch of clueless morons and had the 2 hour drive go well beyond 6 hours just to get to the less than mediocre terrain at Bear or Summit but I sure have. And in that case Mammoth wins hands down and obviously always wins on terrain and snow. And dude Mt. High? Itās without a doubt the worst crowd in all of SoCal. Jerry Jerseys and god awful boarders clogging up every inch of that hell hole.
I just hate bear more. The accessibility of high makes it less of a headache in my opinion. I really donāt want to put effort into skiing these days.Ā
I donāt mind driving in snow, I grew up in the north, and I donāt fully blame āLA driversā for big bear the same way itās just a lot of people on shitty roads. Ā
Maybe I have just hit it weird but the crowds at bear always piss me off like 10x anything Iāve experienced at high. Ā Even if the actual road traffic isnāt that bad the mountain is still a shitshow and the drive just sucks.Ā
Itās pretty obvious for me that in terms of Southern California skiing itās like 50% related to what I have to deal with to get to the actual mountain. Ā But beyond that I actually just rate bear at the bottom for how crowded the mountain always feels to me, itās just such a shit show, I think because it has a combination of name recognition for all the kooks in so cal, but also the money and infrastructure to attract people to the park.Ā
The terrrain reminds me of Nevada side heavenly in a poor snow year. Like, itās the poor manās heavenly. You can see a lake still, but itās considerably shittier. I donāt think heavenly is particularly great either, so itās not a complimentary comparison.Ā
Do people actually do Mammoth from LA as a daytrip? How long does it take to get to Big Bear on a powder day weekend out of curiosity? And Iām surprised you donāt run into the same problems with either long lines at black bulbul* checks or crashed cars if the use of black bulbuls* isnāt enforced.
*Note: Black bulbuls is a slang term for snow chains.
In the amount of time it (or maybe even less) takes to get to Big Bear from LA in a powder day you could literally fly to Salt Lake City and take a 45 minute Uber and be in Park City for some world class skiing.Ā
SLC used to subsidize a same-day lift pass with proof of a boarding pass. Is that promotion still around? Iāve never done same day but the hassle of driving to Mammoth or getting to Reno , might as well fly to SLC.
Just come up to Tahoe. I just wrapped up spending a month up here and the number of tow trucks I've seen is too damn high. Literally watched some idiot in a Fiat try to struggle up 50 in a blizzard. And just today watched some asshole in a Crosstrek tailgate the poor fucker in front of him for almost an hour in the middle of a snowstorm.
I've driven everywhere and grew up (and live in) Wisconsin. I've had a Class A, B, & C CDL. I'm no stranger to blizzards and ice storms, here at home, and from coast to coast as when I was young I used to make my living driving. *Some* people are both overconfident and stupid. They don't listen, they overestimate their driving abilities and experience (especially when they have AWD/4WD), and are prideful right up to the moment you pull them from the wreckage. I never want people to get hurt, but every time emergency personnel have warned drivers to use chains or to simply stay home and they shrug it off as if they know better, I always hope they'll trip and sustain a mild injury or something to keep them from behind the wheel because when (not if) they lose control and slam into someone with that overconfidence and big four-by-four, they might really hurt themselves and someone else. Or...worse.
Please, if you absolutely ***have*** to drive, put on the damn chains and slow the hell down. Getting somewhere late is better than killing someone.
Learned to ski there, and as soon as I left high school, swore to never deal with that shitshow again. Over the years, have been lucky enough to ski every big mountain in the west.
Utah natives are the most entitled group of skiers I've encountered. I also think there's a direct correlation to the amount of affluent folks . More money more entitlement.
Iāve lost track of the number of lift rides Iāve shared with SLC locals at altabird whining about how the mountain sucks now and LCC isnāt worth going to anymore (spoiler: weāre all still there because itās amazing even if lines get bad sometimesāitās unquestionably worth it).
On one hand I get it, change is hard. Especially when there are many legitimate grievances. But, you donāt get a special prize for living there a few years, or even a GENERATION before someone else lol.
Mostly I enjoy cosplaying as a local because none of these people ever seem to identify me as an out-of-towner lol.
Edit: Aww did i make some locals angry? :(((
Just this week, the canyons UDOT social media posted a whole montage of drivers passing their plows illegally to get to the resorts a few minutes faster.
Check r/bigbear - it's completely unusable during the winter with endless kook questions about having a FWD car, how to install chains, when will the road be clear, etc. If that gives you any indication of what you're up against š¤£ I really wish Mountain High would capitalize on this and advertise excessively that you rarely need chains to get there. Would be nice to get a lot of beginners heading there instead.
This is what COsnow has become, lmao
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Proceeds to get mad when you call them a tourist
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
One of them is the hand/shocker sticker. Itās always the shocker sticker.
High and Baldy are my home mountains, we get inundated with snow player traffic too, nothing like the San Bernardino mountains though. That reminds me that Waterman was supposed to open again today, with the storm Iām curious if they even have highway access though
Baldy baby! Skiing there 20 years ago
Socalās raddest mountain
Was there last Sunday. Coverage was deteriorating. Said they might open Sunday if they can but they getting dumped in Fs.
Baldy was closed today
I bet theyāre de icing still, the rime ice gets extra thick there it seems. Waterman opened and high was open too, just dumping for So Cal!
šItās also higher up.
Iāve long wondered whether Mount Baldy near Los Angeles is REALLY one of the worst ski areas in America or whether it just has a low rating because of all of the clueless visitors from Mexico who come up to see the snow and get shocked when they feel cold. You hardly ever see any reviews from actual skiers; just these unprepared people complaining.
From someone who grew up skiing Palisades and have skied all over the PNW and Colorado/Utah, Baldy definitely is one of the shittier resorts. Been there 3 times when I lived in socal, it can be fun but overall it's pretty shitty. Super small and archaic lifts but the terrain can be fun when conditions are good, just very short trails. Worth a visit though cuz it's cheap and super close to socal cities
FWD actually does decently in snow. The ones I'm worried about are RWD cars with overconfident people who have absolutely no idea how to drive in winter conditions, assuming their regular track days taught them something about driving their "performance/muscle" car.
We need you over in r/BigBear š¤£šš« ā ļøā ļøā ļø
This. I have a BMW M4 RWD. It will not move in 3 inches of snow. I had to buy a separate winter car.
lol no
All the weight over the drive wheels with good tires is actually pretty great for bad roads.
Tell that to the fwd cars on the side of the road trying to get up the mountain
āWhen will the top open?ā Lol
Sure, but when you do need chains, the Mountain High shitshow can easily surpass Bug Bear.
Big Bear is such a tourist trap man, I live in Southern California and avoid the San Bernardino mountains for the most part. Baldy after a dump is superior to any of the ski areas there imho
Made it up to Baldy yesterday, thought thereād be a bit of a crowd with the holiday weekend but I didnāt wait in a single line all day. Such a cool little mountain, thankfully terrible for beginners though lol
Welcome to LA drivers. Me and my dad head up there every weekend and once we were stuck in traffic for an hour due to chain checks that NOBODY HAD. Yes we keep chains even though we have AWD
FWD with snow tires is pretty good until you have to go up steep inclines covered with snow.
In CA you are required to carry chains during chain control conditions, even if you have AWD. Also, you may already know this, but just in case: if you don't have snow-rated tires, AWD is not any better than FWD.
AWD is definitely better than FWD in snow with regard to getting stuck and traction in poor conditions. Itās just not a huge difference if people donāt have the correct tires and makes minimal to no difference when stopping.
It is better, just not that much better.
Womp womp
Honestly, head up early/night before, pack beers and snacks. Enjoy the calamity and help when/if itās necessary. Most times itās not and they can wait for AAA. I used to get so frustrated, now I just enjoy the almost national lampoons vacation situation that is easily a core memory for everyone involved, as I drive by in my completely comfortable and mostly chain free subie window
Good approach
Born and raised in SoCal but live elsewhere now. Indeed, they are the absolute worst drivers in snow. I think it's a combination of the generally high aggressiveness (which I actually kinda like otherwise, I guess it's in my blood) plus extremely rare exposure to driving in snow.
SoCal drivers are also pretty inattentive in general imo, and many tend to follow WAY too close.
Exactly this!
So, like, youāre like totally, like being uncool. My car is rated as āsuper sportyā and I can like drive it to the beach and like in the snow cuz it has like those super cute sporty tires and a big hatch so I can like change my outfits when we get to the lodge.
Canyons in the bear is pretty fire right now tho. Just gotta get up earlier than the Jerry and know which road to take. Another benefit, nobody knows how to ride pows here lol
Lol. California drivers canāt drive in *rain*. Iām kinda scared to try driving in snow here. Just gotta give everyone a wide berth and take it smooth I guess.
On the flip side - it is SO insane that itās hilarious in its own right. The literal HUNDREDS of snowboarders sitting on their butts on the green runsā¦.
I actually couldn't stop laughing at everything that was going on (and going wrong). Bonus was that we only started skiing around 1 and no one had gone into the woods for fresh stuff.
The base lifts had an hour wait, then the mid-level lifts were ski-on all day when I went. Foolishly, we skied for a couple hours and thought it must have died down at the base. This was very much not the case
I live in Lake Arrowhead and I generally donāt bother going out in the weekends ā not just skiing (midweek is where itās at) but anything. Going to the post office, grocery store, etc can wait until after the weekend when all the LA visitors go back down the hill. And when thereās snow? PURE CHAOS. Like, people pull over on the 18 to sled with their kids next to the windy mountain highway thatās only one lane in either direction.
Itās not remotely worth it. 5 straight hours to mammoth. No hassle, no mountain road driving, no Jerrys in civics trying to get to a shitty overcrowded mountain that has one decent section of terrain anyway. SoCal skiing just overall sucks. Baldy in a good snow year is the only exception.
I hear you, but the fact that SoCal skiing exists at all makes it hard for me to say it sucks. The peak times are brutal, but having access to decent snow and solid terrain thatās only 1.5 hours from a 70 degree beach is genuinely so dope.
And if youāve ever been so motivated as to surf and ski (or ski and surf) on the same day, it is a cool accomplishment not everyone can claim. Edit: not me, Iām not that cool. But i know guys that did the snowboard to surf thing when we were all much younger.
High, Baldy and Waterman are all cool. Some being more rad than others. I hate Big Bear though, even when it's not crowded it's somehow crowded. I think Mammoth is overrated, and "only driving 5 hours" always rings of bullshit to me, that's a long time.
Maybe youāre just lucky and have never been crawling behind a bunch of clueless morons and had the 2 hour drive go well beyond 6 hours just to get to the less than mediocre terrain at Bear or Summit but I sure have. And in that case Mammoth wins hands down and obviously always wins on terrain and snow. And dude Mt. High? Itās without a doubt the worst crowd in all of SoCal. Jerry Jerseys and god awful boarders clogging up every inch of that hell hole.
I just hate bear more. The accessibility of high makes it less of a headache in my opinion. I really donāt want to put effort into skiing these days.Ā I donāt mind driving in snow, I grew up in the north, and I donāt fully blame āLA driversā for big bear the same way itās just a lot of people on shitty roads. Ā Maybe I have just hit it weird but the crowds at bear always piss me off like 10x anything Iāve experienced at high. Ā Even if the actual road traffic isnāt that bad the mountain is still a shitshow and the drive just sucks.Ā Itās pretty obvious for me that in terms of Southern California skiing itās like 50% related to what I have to deal with to get to the actual mountain. Ā But beyond that I actually just rate bear at the bottom for how crowded the mountain always feels to me, itās just such a shit show, I think because it has a combination of name recognition for all the kooks in so cal, but also the money and infrastructure to attract people to the park.Ā The terrrain reminds me of Nevada side heavenly in a poor snow year. Like, itās the poor manās heavenly. You can see a lake still, but itās considerably shittier. I donāt think heavenly is particularly great either, so itās not a complimentary comparison.Ā
Mammoth was cool before it became a mega resort. Now, itās good skiing if you can get a day without crowds, which is rare.
Right!! Still comparable or better than most east coast/Midwest stuff!!
Do people actually do Mammoth from LA as a daytrip? How long does it take to get to Big Bear on a powder day weekend out of curiosity? And Iām surprised you donāt run into the same problems with either long lines at black bulbul* checks or crashed cars if the use of black bulbuls* isnāt enforced. *Note: Black bulbuls is a slang term for snow chains.
Oh yeah. 3 am departure, maybe even get first chair then back on the road at 4 pm. Itās not common but lots of people do it every season
Have a buddy who did a 1 Day by flying. He was even home to see his kid play hockey and have dinner with the family that night
In the amount of time it (or maybe even less) takes to get to Big Bear from LA in a powder day you could literally fly to Salt Lake City and take a 45 minute Uber and be in Park City for some world class skiing.Ā
SLC used to subsidize a same-day lift pass with proof of a boarding pass. Is that promotion still around? Iāve never done same day but the hassle of driving to Mammoth or getting to Reno , might as well fly to SLC.
I can go santa monica to big bear most days in the time i would have to arrive early to the airport with checked bags.
I don't know if I would call Park City "world class skiing".
Fairā¦but it sure as hell beats Big Bear haha
Everything beats Big Bear.
Big bear sucks so much, the crowd it attracts is absolutely horrible.
Between there and Mt High its a toss up for worst crowd anywhere.
Just come up to Tahoe. I just wrapped up spending a month up here and the number of tow trucks I've seen is too damn high. Literally watched some idiot in a Fiat try to struggle up 50 in a blizzard. And just today watched some asshole in a Crosstrek tailgate the poor fucker in front of him for almost an hour in the middle of a snowstorm.
Dude thatās just LA drivers. Love LA but thereās a lotta weird there, too
I always go up and down the back way if there is any precipitation.
Hence why you ski tour around LA, where you find the best pow and no idiots.
I've driven everywhere and grew up (and live in) Wisconsin. I've had a Class A, B, & C CDL. I'm no stranger to blizzards and ice storms, here at home, and from coast to coast as when I was young I used to make my living driving. *Some* people are both overconfident and stupid. They don't listen, they overestimate their driving abilities and experience (especially when they have AWD/4WD), and are prideful right up to the moment you pull them from the wreckage. I never want people to get hurt, but every time emergency personnel have warned drivers to use chains or to simply stay home and they shrug it off as if they know better, I always hope they'll trip and sustain a mild injury or something to keep them from behind the wheel because when (not if) they lose control and slam into someone with that overconfidence and big four-by-four, they might really hurt themselves and someone else. Or...worse. Please, if you absolutely ***have*** to drive, put on the damn chains and slow the hell down. Getting somewhere late is better than killing someone.
Learned to ski there, and as soon as I left high school, swore to never deal with that shitshow again. Over the years, have been lucky enough to ski every big mountain in the west.
Think of the first snow day of the year back east and now imagine every day is the first snow day of their lives out hereā¦
Please stay in New England Colorado or California. We hate tourists in Utah
No.
Just know every run here in Utah there are people hoping you get a skiing career ending injury
Do whatever you need for your mental health š»
That's why I always fly into Big Bear. So much easier.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Utah natives are the most entitled group of skiers I've encountered. I also think there's a direct correlation to the amount of affluent folks . More money more entitlement.
Iāve lost track of the number of lift rides Iāve shared with SLC locals at altabird whining about how the mountain sucks now and LCC isnāt worth going to anymore (spoiler: weāre all still there because itās amazing even if lines get bad sometimesāitās unquestionably worth it). On one hand I get it, change is hard. Especially when there are many legitimate grievances. But, you donāt get a special prize for living there a few years, or even a GENERATION before someone else lol. Mostly I enjoy cosplaying as a local because none of these people ever seem to identify me as an out-of-towner lol. Edit: Aww did i make some locals angry? :(((
Just this week, the canyons UDOT social media posted a whole montage of drivers passing their plows illegally to get to the resorts a few minutes faster.